Thursday, 23 April 2009

Slave Ship Assembly

Last week a report of mine was broadcast on ITV Meridian. I went back to my school in Thameto cover The Gambia Week, celebrating its link with a partner school in the West African country. This included a slave ship assembly.

On the morning of filming the story, my news editor called to say I couldn't have a cameraman as there was a breaking story that needed covering. This meant I couldn't do the story and I was gutted as it was a good opportunity for me to report and I'd spent a long time setting up the story with the school. This had involved getting permission to film the students, organising which parts of The Gambia Week I'd want to film and thinking through how my story would look on the Meridian programme.

But I was determined for the story to be on Meridian and did what you have to in these situations - thought of a way round it. I asked the school if they had a camera I could use so that I could film the story myself - and to my delight Mark, the technical man at the school, presented me with a really good camera which the school had been donated. The story was back on and I reacquainted myself with filming - the last time I'd picked up a camera was on my Cardiff postgrad course a year ago. With the help of Mark (he filmed my piece to camera) I successfully filmed the story and it was broadcast on Easter Monday. Let me know what you think.

Last year I covered the same story for BBC Radio Oxford when I was on placement from my Cardiff course. You can listen to it by clicking HERE and then clicking PLAY.

Your voice was clear. The sight of the outline of slaves on the ship, and the size of the ship, were a shock. The slaves must have suffered from terrible sores if not able to 'go to toilet'.Excellent idea for a lesson because it helps students imagine the experience of slaves, and I thought your package explained it well. What was the significance of the drum beat? I liked the open classroom door onto drumbeat class - dramatic.

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About Me

Broadcast Journalist at BBC Look North. Research, film, script and edit stories in South Yorkshire and report live for Look North and the BBC News Channel. Also report on cycling for BBC Sport.
Producer of a half hour documentary for BBC Radio 4 on the closure of the Remploy factories.
This is my personal blog - views are my own.
Get in touch: mark.ansell@bbc.co.uk